The
purpose of this course is to introduce students to world regional
geography.The course will seek to highlight the distinctive feature of
the various regions of the world,their
historical and cultural background, physical location and physical
features, resources, and economic components.

The
instructor believes that students should have an understanding and
appreciation for the world in which they live.The instructor hopes that this course will serve as a window on
the world and provide a foundation for understanding other countries,
peoples, and ways of life.

Course Requirements

This
course will be primarily a lecture course with discussion strongly
encouraged.The instructor expects students to keep up with the reading
so they will be able to participate more actively in these discussions.The instructor will use a variety of AV tapes created by the
textbook author to highlight various aspects of this course.Multimedia resources and slides from the instructor’s travels
will also be used to give students a perspective on countries covered in
this course.

Grading Policy

Grades will be based on
Four Examinations and the Map Exercises. Each examination
will count 20% of you total grade.
The map homework
will also constitute the final 20% of the grade. The
grades for this course will be calculated as follows:

=100 points (20%)

First
Exam

A=500 - 450

=100
points (20%)

Second
Exam

B=450 - 400

=100
points (20%)

Third
Exam

C=400 - 350

=100
points (20%)

Final
Exam

D=350 - 300

=100
points (20%)

Map Homework

F=300 - 250

=500 points

Map Homework

Students
must complete the map assignments on all regions covered in class.The materials for these exercises are
available in the Bookstore. These are
due the first day that we are scheduled to cover the region. Late submissions will be
penalized. Grades for these exercises will be based on the extent
to which the maps are completed well. (These
are relatively easy points to obtain, so be sure to turn in all
assignments.)

Students can use the maps at
the beginning of each section of the H.J. deBlij text. They can
use the Student Atlas of World Geography on
reserve in the library, or they can use Google Earth available on line
from Google.com

Examinations

The examinations will consist of
objective questions drawn from the textbook and essay questions drawn
from the textbook and lectures in class.
Students need to focus on the main concepts, ideas and issues discussed
in the textbook and class. Basic geographical knowledge of the regions
will be essential.

PowerPoint Presentations

All class presentations for this course are available on reserve in the
SMU Library.I will use the PC
in class.Students find it
useful to run these off before class and add whatever notes are
appropriate on the file.This
should make your task easier. These materials are meant to be an
outline not a complete set of notes for this class These materials
are testable as well as the readings from the textbook.

Attendance

I
consider attendance to be an important part of this course.Excessive absences will be penalized.Students who miss more than 2 classes for any reason will be
penalized one half of a letter grade (25 points); students who miss more
than 4 classes will be penalized one letter grade (50 points). This
policy will be strictly enforced.